Our story
In 2015, three classmates, Beepen, Isaac and Jovani (BIJ), created a support team at the high school for students who needed help with their homework, using Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint; they also helped them with research, which required technical skills. In addition, they also created workshops to help students who had gaps in specific subjects, so that they would be ready for the final exams.
In 2017, Isaac and Jovani were selected for the Haitian Education and Leadership Program (HELP) scholarship, where they underwent several types of training. After attending a reflective career guidance training that same year, Isaac decided to start sharing this training with young people like himself, and from that point on, he decided to turn BIJ into a non-profit organization so that it could reach a wider audience. So in July 2018, the BIJ team officially transformed into the BIJ Group, which stood for “Groupe des Bénévoles pour l’Instruction de la Jeunesse“: Group of Volunteers for Youth Empowerment.
The BIJ Group’s mission was to support young Haitians on a personal and professional level through training. Many activities have been organized through churches, youth associations, schools, universities and more. In summer, they often organize training campaigns in several countrysides, in different types of institutions where they can find young people, and in Haiti’s capital. At the time, BIJ had 18 members working together to achieve the objectives, mainly people from HELP, and a few colleagues from universities. Trainings covered topics such as career guidance, professional development, leadership, English, IT, financial management and more.